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Lando Norris edged out fellow driver and title rival the Australian for the fastest time in the closing stages of practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The British racer, who took the points lead from Piastri by one point after his victory in Mexico City a fortnight back, topped the Melbourne-born driver by a tiny margin of 0.023secs.

Until that point, Piastri had been the fastest McLaren driver throughout the hour before the sprint shootout set to begin at the evening session.

The Red Bull star, the other racer in the championship fight, sitting 36 points behind behind Norris, was classified in P17 as his Red Bull team ran a unique setup.

His teammate the Japanese driver was the sole competitor to crash, though minor, when he spun at Turn Four during the early running.

Tsunoda slid over the track edges before spinning across the escape zone, and was blessed to escape with just a minor contact of the barrier.

Ferrari's the seven-time champion also had a spin, at the very end of the practice, turning around through the quick descending corner leading to the final corner on to the pit straight.

Hamilton wrapped up in 19th, just behind teammate the Monegasque driver.

The McLaren drivers were far ahead of the rest of the field, with Nico Hulkenberg's car third fastest, 0.619 seconds behind Piastri's best.

Aston Martin's the Spanish driver was in fourth, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto in front of the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Williams' Carlos Sainz.